Projectile and gun for throwing same



(No Model.) 2 Shets-She-t 1Q L. GATHMANN.

PROJBOTILE AND GUN FOR THROWING SAME. No. 569,191. Patented Oct. 13, 1896.

" 7 2 snet ssneep z.

L. GAT MANN. PROJEGTILE AND GU R THROWING SAME.

No. 569,191. Patented Oct. 13, 1896.

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS GATI-IMANN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PROJECTILE AND GUN FOR THROW INGSAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 569,191, dated October13, 1896.

Application filed March 17, 1896. serial No. 583,538. (No model.)

To ail whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LoUIs GATHMANN, of Chicago, Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Projectiles or Aerial Torpedoesand a Gun for Throwing the Same, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a projectile or aerial torpedo of novelconstruction and to a gun also of novel construction for throwing thesame, the object of the invention being to enable a projectile ortorpedo having a shell of a minimum weight and containing a maximum ofexplosive material to be safely thown accurately a greater distance thanhas heretofore been possible.

As my invention relates solely to the throwing of a projectile which isdestructive by reason of the explosion occurring upon impact asdistinguished from a projectile which is effective by reason of itspower to penetrate and shatter an obj eet into which it is thrown, I donot necessarily employ as great a muzzle velocity as such solidprojectile or explosive shell requires. One object of my invention,however, is to enable the throwing of a terpedo or explosive projectilesafely or without danger of premature explosion and with a greatermuzzle velocity, and consequently to a greater distance, than hasheretofore been found practicable and safe. The chief fault ofprojectiles of the common construction is that they require a very heavyshell and consequently can carry a relatively small amount of explosivematerial.

I attain the objects above stated as follows:

First, I provide a gun whose bore at or near the muzzle is ofpractically the same diame ter as the shell, but of greater andpreferably of gradually increasing diameter from its contracted portionback to the powder-chamber, thus providing an annular space around theshell, into which the pressure generated by the explosion of theexpelling charge may pass freely, thus exerting a compressing force uponthe shell sufficient to prevent its bulging or jamming under thepressure exerted behind and within it. The gun is preferably rifledthroughout, except in the powder-chamber, the rifling being of uniformtwist, but necessarily, because of the tapering bore, of varying depth.

Second, I provide a torpedo having relatively a much larger amount ofexplosive material to its total weight than has heretofore been employedwith guns fired by a powdercharge, and such projectile I preferablyprovide with projections or spiral ribs registering with therifle-grooves of the gun. I also provide a detonating cartridge locatedinteriorly of the shell of the torpedo and surrounded by the explosivematerial thereof and which is adapted, upon the striking of the torpedoagainst an object, to be exploded and thereby explode the torpedo. Theshell of the torpedo is open at the base and may be made thin, as abovestated, because with my improved gun the pressure of the expellingcharge within the torpedo is counterbalanced by the external pressure inthe space surrounding such shell, but the detonator is necessarily madewith a shell having sufficient strength to withstandthe full crushingaction of the powder charge.

It is a well-known fact that some highly-explosive materials, notablywet gun-cotton, will not explode by heat, by applied pressure, or byordinary concussion, and, therefore, I am enabled by my improvements touse large masses of such high explosives without danger of prematureexplosion and with the utmost certainty of proper delivery from the gun.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown my improvements in thepreferred forms and also certain modifications as to features thereof.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the gun, thetorpedo being shown therein in elevation and the powder shown in Figs. 2and 4. Fig. 7 is alongitudinal section of the projectile. Fig. 8 is arear elevation thereof; Fig. 9, an enlarged broken sectional elevationthrough the rear end of the torpedo; Fig. 10, a sectional elevationthrough the middle portion of the tor.

pedo; and Figs. 11, 12, 13, and 1t show modifications in the form of theprojectile-gun, Figs. 11 and 13 being broken transverse sections throughthe gun near the breech, and Figs. 12 and 11 being similar sections nearthe muzzle, showing the front end of the torpedo in elevation.

In carrying out my invention I propose to construct a gun capable ofcarrying a torpedo charged with several hundred pounds ofhighly-explosive material, say, wet gun-cotton, for a distance ofseveral miles. I prefer to construct the gun of a caliber proportionalto the desired range, and the gun may be made of any of the well-knownmaterials and disposed in well-known ways, but need not be nearly soheavy as guns adapted to fire solid shot or shells which are effectiveby penetration. In fact it is one of the objects of my invention toconstruct a gun which will be much lighter than guns of the characterlast above named, so as to enable the arming of light cruisers,gun-boats, or torpedo-boats, and to make such lighter vessels asefficient as a modern iron-clad or battle-ship. The barrel of the gun ismarked 15, and its breech may be closed by a breech-block 16, having theusual means for exploding a charge of powder contained within thepowder-chamber adjacent to the breech-block. This powderchamber isusually smooth and of slightly greater diameter than the bore of the gunat the inner end of the powder-chamber.

From the powder-chamber to the muzzle the gun has in the preferredconstruction a bore of uniformly-decreasing diameter and of greaterdiameter than the shell of the torpedo, except at or near the muzzle,whereat the bore is of practically the same size as the externaldiameterof the shell. By this means an annular space is provided aroundthe shell of the torpedo, said space gradually decreas ing from thepowder-chamber to the muzzle.

The gun is preferably rifled from the front end of the powder-chamber tothe muzzle, the rifling being indicated at 18, and such rifling is ofuniform twist, and the lateral distance from the bottom of one groove tothe bottom of a groove directly opposite is equal throughout the gun,the grooves being shallow at or near the powder-chamber and ofincreasing depth toward the muzzle, as clearly shown in the sectionalviews 2, 3, and 4E, and in a slightly-exaggerated scale in Figs. 5 andG.

The torpedo has a cylindric shell 17, thin at its rear end and slightlyincreasing in thickness toward its front end, the additional thicknessbeing, of course, added upon the interior of the shell, the exteriordiameter being uniform. The front end of the shell is tapered and hasthe usual opening closed by the plug 19. The shell of the torpedo isprovided, as shown in Figs. 1, 5, 6, and 8, with spiral ribs 20, andadapted to the rifle-grooves for imparting an axially-rotating movementto the torpedo. The explosive material is packed in separate metallicshells or cartridges having the cylindrical bodies 21 and the caps 22,which are tightly closed or hermeticallysealcd. The explosive material(indicated at 23) is prepared by pressing it into disks or any otherpreferred forms. The cartridges inclosing the explosive material are ofa less external diameter than the internal diameter of the torpedoshell, so as to fit loosely therein and provide a space 24:, which ispreferably filled with a liquid. Near the rear end of the torpedo anasbestos plunger 25 is fitted into the shell of the torpedo andpreferably sealed with paraffin. The shell is threaded at its rear endand a metal spider, having a threaded web 26 connecting its arms 27, isscrewed into the rear end of the shell, thus affording means forpressing the plunger and the several cartridges tightly into the chamberof the shell previous to sealing. The rear end of the shell is thus leftopen, except that it is crossed by the arms of the spider, and hence theforce of the expelling charge acts upon the plunger to break the sealand then upon the contents of the shell, transmitting the pressurethrough the fluid body outwardly upon the shell and equally throughoutits length.

A detonator is inclosed in one of the cartridges and surrounded by theexplosive material. Said detonator is clearly shown in Figs. 7 and 10,and consists of a strong shell 20, having its forward end provided witha screw-plu g 30 and its rear end closed by a cap 31. A metal tube orbarrel 32 hasa threaded engagement with the plug 30 and contains asliding plunger 33, which acts upon a percussion-cap 34c, confined by athreaded plug 35, closing the end of the barrel 32. The interior of theouter shell 29 is filled with dry guncotton, (represented at 36,) andfulminate of mercury is inclosed in the outer end of the barrel 32,asindicated at 37. This detonator is of the usual construction, but inmyinvention I apply it in anovel way, the same being inclosed in one ofthe cartridges containing the wet gun-cotton, whereby the detonator isprotected from the heat generated by the exploded powder charge, fromthe liquid inclosing the torpedo-shell, and from accidental or prematureexplosion by the packing of wet gun-cotton about it.

It will be observed that the shell of the torpedo is open at its rearend or base, thus allowing the force of the expelling charge to exertitself upon the plunger and through it upon the mass of wet gun-cotton.At the same time the pressure caused by the explosion of the expellingcharge passes into the space around the shell, thus counterbalancing theinterior pressure and preventing the bulging of the shell and itsjamming within the gun. The shell of the detonator is of ample strengthto withstand the full pressure of the expelling charge without fracture,but will be exploded by the concussion caused by the sudden stoppage ofthe shell upon encountering an object.

The liquid body inclosed between the interior of the shell of thetorpedo and the exterior of the cartridges containing the explosivematerial prevents heating of the cartridgeshell and also serves as amedium for equalizing the pressure from within and counterbalancing thepressure from without. The shell is made of increased thickness towardits outer end, because there is at no time any external pressureeffective upon the tapering portion of the shell and hence the internalpressure upon such portion of the shell is not compensated, except bythis increased thickness, and as the shell issues from the gunincreasing portions of it are subjected to the internal pressure in theabsence of counterpressure from without.

Of course there willbe slight waste of the force of the expellingcharge, which waste is due to the fact that there is an escape aroundthe torpedo until the front end of the latter reaches the muzzle, whenthe full force is confined within the gun.

Modifications of the above-described construction may be made. I haveshown some of said modifications in Figs. 11 to 14, inclusive. In Fig.11 the gun is provided with interior spiral ribs 38, which engagegrooves 39 in the shell of the torpedo, the spaces between the ribsserving to admit the pressure of the charge around the shell of thetorpedo. Fig. 12 shows the same construction, the section being takennear the muzzle of the gun and looking into the muzzle upon the frontend of the torpedo. In Fig. 13 the bore of the gun and thecross-sectional form of the torpedo are polygonal, an elevation of thefront end of the torpedo being shown in Fig. let. The view is taken nearthe muzzle of the gun and the torpedo is of the same caliber as thebore. In this construction the provision of mating ribs and grooves isnot present, but the twisting movement of the projectile is secured byits form cooperated with the similar form given to the bore of the gun.

Further modifications may be made both in the gun and torpedo. Forexample, the rifiing need not extend the entire length of the gun andthe bore need not be of uniform taper. It is essential to my invention,however, that there be provided a space around the torpedo except at ornear the muzzle, and by a space I mean such a contraction at the muzzleas would prevent unnecessary waste of the powder charge.

In my application, Serial No. 480,100, filed July 10, 1803, I havedescribed and broadly claimed the method of firing explosive shells byexploding the powder charge at the base of the shell and simultaneouslytransmitting a portion of the expelling force to the interior andexterior of such shell, and also the combination, with a gun having acontracted muzzle and enlarged powder-chamber, of a projectile having anopen base. Such matteris shown and described herein, but thisapplication is subordinate to said prior application and is intended tobe restricted to the particular improvements herein shown, described,and claimed.

I claim 1. The herein-described improvement in ordnance comprising incombination a gun and a projectile or torpedo, said gun having a bore ofgreater diameter than the projectile and rifled throughout its. lengthexcept at the powder-chamber, said projectile having a shell open at thebase and containing high explosives packed therein with means arrangedin the open base of the shell to confine the explosives therein, andsaid open base permitting the gases of the expelling charge to enter thebase of the shell, while the enlarged bore permits said gases to envelopthe shell, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A projectile or torpedo having a shell with high explosives packedtherein, a detonator enveloped by the explosive, said shell having itsbase open to the expelling-gases of the powder charge, substantially asdescribed.

3. The herein-described improvement in projectiles comprising incombination a metallic shell, and a sealed shell or shells containinghigh explosives and arranged within the interior of the principal shell,a liquid body filling the interstices between the shells, a liquid sealat the base of the outer shell and an open frame or spider confining theexplosives within the shell and permitting the gases of the expellingcharge to pass to the interior thereof, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

4. An explosive projectile or torpedo having an open base and filledwith a material such as wet gun-cotton, a detonator having a strongshell inclosed with said explosive material and a gun for throwing saidtorpedo, said gun having a bore of larger diameter than the torpedo,except at its'muzzle,whereby to provide an annular space about thetorpedo when in place in the bore of the gun, the gun and torpedo havingcontacting surfaces of such form as to cause an axial rotation of thetorpedo when discharged and the interspace permitting the pressure ofthe expelling charge to be exerted equally on the exterior and theinterior of the torpedo, in such manner that a torpedo having a maximumcharge of the explosive material may be used.

LOUIS GATHMANN.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK O. GOODWIN, C. O. LINTHIOUM.

